Desserts
by The Slytherin Corner
Summary: Everyone has a favorite kind of dessert. Various "sweet tooth" stories by various anonymous authors from the Slytherin Corner.
1. rotten cherries

_A/N: Daphne and Astoria's mother left them when they were still babies. They have never met her, nor do they know what she looks like. Their father is a heavy drinker, and they usuallly have to take care of themselves. _

**rotten cherries**

_her feelings she hides_

_her dreams she can't find_

_she's losing her mind_

_she's falling behind_

('nobedy's home' - avril lavigne)

**...**

This is a story of broken dreams, of rejection, of lost innocence. This is the story of two sisters and a cherry pie.

**...**

When Daphne is seven and Astoria six, they find a cookbook, hidden in the back of their kitchen closet. Most of the recipes are, in their opinion, rather disgusting, but there is one for cherry pie. They've never eaten cherry pie before.

So Daphne "borrows" their father's wand and they Summon cherries from their Muggle neighbour's garden and bake a cherry pie.

And when they try it, they decide, right there on the spot, that it is the most delicous thing they have ever tasted.

**...**

They start baking cherry pies all the time. When they're sad, when they're happy, when their father drinks too much and yells. They sneak their father's money to buy the ingredients. Pretty soon they don't even need the cookbook.

Somehow, it's special for them.

**...**

On the day before Daphne leaves for Hogwarts, she bakes Asoria a special pie, with rasberries mixed in with the cherries and I'LL MISS YOU! spelled out on the top.

But Astoria cries anyway, great shuddering sobs, all night long.

Daphne hugs her very tight. She understands.

She wouldn't want to be shut up alone in this dark, cramped house either.

**...**

Daphne likes Hogwarts. She likes her classes and the teachers and the other girls.

She also likes the house eleves' cherry pies. She's never tell Astoria, but they taste better than the homemade ones.

But during the holidays, when she goes back to Astoria, she bakes cherry pies with her and pretends they still taste delicious.

**...**

It's a happy day when Astoria leaves for Hogwarts. She's finally free, free of the small, musty house, free of her angry, depressed father.

And she's with Daphne again.

The two of them sit together on the train. They had made a pie the night before and they eat it for lunch.

It's good to be together again.

**...**

Astoria doesn't like the cherry pie at school that much. Somehow, the ones that she and Daphne bake together seem to taste better.

But Daphne thinks it's great, so Astoria is quiet.

Sisters shouldn't fight.

**...**

Daphne hates her 7th year. She hates the way the Carrows try to teach them, she hates Crabbe and Goyle's cruelty, she hates whatever thing Draco is doing, she hates everything.

And she's scared. She scared of You-Know-Who and of Snape. And she know that the others, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, have some sort of resistance group going on, but Slytherins aren't supposed to be brave, so she stays out of it and does her best not to hurt anyone.

Once, she tries to eat some cherry pie, to remind herself of those carefree days, but the red of the cherries remind her of blood and she feels sick and stops.

**...**

Astoria's only 16, and she just wants to run away, far far away.

One day, she finds a little first-year in the hallway, crying with gouge marks on his arms.

She remembers her first year and how happy it was and she just wants to scream at how _unfair _it is.

But she still eats cherry pie, because it comforts her somehow.

**...**

She's so in love and it's absolutely _killing _her. Draco is all she ever thinks about. He's handsome and responsible and respectful. And Daphne warns her _he'll never love you, he's got a heart of stone, _but Astoria keeps hoping.

But every time she visits him, every time she writes him a letter, every time she goes to a party and he's there, every time, she gets a cold, polite rejection.

And she bakes cherry pies, to cheer herself up, but they start getting tasteless after a while.

**...**

Daphne doesn't want this. She doesn't want this at all. When she imagined marriage, she imagined _love_. She didn't imagine Blaise, who may be handsome and rich, but who doesn't love her. And she doesn't love him, not one bit.

But that's the problem with arranged marriages. They don't involve trivial things like _feelings, _they involve money and scheming grandparents who want their granddaughters to marry eligible, wealthy bachelors.

This marriage hasn't even started yet, but she is already suffocating.

She makes one last cherry pie, but it tastes so _flat_, so _stale_, so..._cold_, that she spits it out and begins to cry.

**...**

Astoria is alone and pregnant. She's got no one, no one at all. Draco literally shut the door in her face. And now she's got a little boy growing in her stomach and nothing but a badly-paying job at Madame Malkin's and a dingy little flat.

And she has absolutely _no idea _what to do.

So she bakes a cherry pie. And maybe it's just her pregnancy hormones acting up, but it's horrible,_ nauseating. _The cherries are disgustingly sweet, the dough is black and burned. The whole thing is a mess and she ends up throwing it all away.

**...**

Neither of them ever eat cherry pie again.


	2. beauty queen of only eighteen

**a/n**: for PrincessPearl and her fortnightly challenge, with a little love triangle because they're fun. Using the dessert chocolate cake, because I'm unoriginal, yo.

* * *

beauty queen of only eighteen  
**MollyLorcan**

you can break everything,  
but so, i can take anything.  
- _Little Dreams, Ellie Goulding_

_

* * *

_

Names are just words. Just strings of letters, thrown together in a random manner to create something that comes to mean everything a person is, their whole identity. Order out of chaos. Meaning out of meaninglessness.

Lorcan's always liked chaos. Always liked rowdiness and loud parties and messes of chords that come together to make beautiful songs – it all comes down to creating meaning out of things, you see. That's all it is.

He's good at creating meaning, too. Words, songs, homeworks, spells – you name, he can probably do it. He's just that kind of guy. He's also the kind of guy that holds doors open for girls and buys them flowers and sings them pretty love songs, which is great for his reputation but not so great for his heart.

Because there's one girl that he'd like to do all this for and more, but she's always belonged to his twin brother and Lorcan respects boundaries, okay, and she's got one huge boundary fence running right the way around her.

It doesn't matter that he probably knows her a million times better than Lysander ever will – that he knows that she loves children and pretty dress and hates thunderstorms and likes apple juice. All Lysander has to do is love her, and she loves him for it. It all seems a little unfair to Lorcan, really.

The day it seems the most unfair is when he's sitting with his twin at the kitchen table in Lysander's small cottage, and Lysander is busy showing him what he's prepared for his and Molly's picnic that afternoon. Lorcan nods and grins and plucks at his guitar strings as Lysander unloads cheeses and sandwiches and eggs and salads and apple juice and ham onto the table, talking nineteen-to-the-dozen and looking for encouragement.

Lorcan gives it to him, reassuring him that he's sure she'll like the cheddar, she'll definitely appreciate the apple juice, and it's all running like a stream of poison into his poor beleaguered heart, until suddenly he spots something.

"Are you crazy?" he demands in shock, reaching into the hamper and yanking a chocolate cake out from a bottom corner. Lysander just stands there, looking confused.

"Why should I be crazy?" he inquires after a short pause, his arms folding, expression a little bewildered. "It's just a cake."

"But she _hates _chocolate cake!" Lorcan replies in outrage that Lysander could have forgotten this, shoving the offending dessert into his brother's face, "Do you not remember the amount of times she threw temper tantrums at birthday parties when we were all little and the only cake there was was chocolate?"

Realisation is slowly dawning on Lysander's face, and with a stream of expletives he chucks the cake in the bin as fast as he can – just in time, because there's a muffled pop outside as she apparates here.

"Fuckitall," Lysander mutters, jabbing his wand at the spread-out food and getting more and more irritable as it takes far too long to jump back into the hamper.

"I'll do it," Lorcan tells him with a roll of his eyes, laying his guitar aside and giving his twin a shove towards the door, "Go find her."

Lysander disappears with a grateful shoulder-clap, and Lorcan watches the food pile itself up neatly, his wand outstretched, and he's just finished repacking when he hears voices and his twin and his twin's girlfriend enter the room.

"Lorcan!" Molly exclaims, bounding towards him, short red curls swinging, "I haven't seen you in _ages_!"

"Yeah, like, a whole _two weeks_," he teases, accepting her hug and wrapping his arms around her, her small form dwarfed by his large one, her smile just peeking out from his chest.

"Well, it feels like a century," she says decidedly, her voice slightly muffled, and then she's pushing herself away from him and moving in a flurry of energy over to the hamper, exclaiming in delight. Lysander mouths a 'thanks' to Lorcan, who just shrugs and smiles and reaches to pick up his guitar.

He's almost over to the door when he hears Molly say, in delight, "Oh, Ly, you remembered no chocolate cake!"

"Actually," Lysander replies, his tone low and amused, "It was Lorcan who made sure I remembered."

"Love you, Lor!" she calls brightly over to him, and Lorcan pauses in the doorway and turns around to find the pair of them grinning over at him, her so sunny he thinks he could stand to be burned forever.

_No you don't_, he thinks, but he just shrugs again and smiles. "Have fun, you guys."

"Oh, we will," Lysander promises suggestively, tugging her against him and ignoring her squeals to press a kiss against her mouth. Heart aching, Lorcan turns around and exits the house, only running once he's out of sight.

He likes making meanings out of things, remember, but there's only so much meaning you can make out of a girl who hates chocolate cake being in love with his twin brother and not him.

* * *

**a/n**: reviews make me happy inside.


	3. Bittersweet

_There is a ten year age different between Gabrielle and Fleur Delacour. _

'-,

The first time Gabrielle eats chocolate mousse cake is when she's five and everything is cheerful with no threats hanging over her family. Her mother makes the cake, singing as she works whilst Gabrielle sits at the table with her colouring book and felt tips.

The windows are wide open with the sunlight streaming in and the sounds of people in the street drifting in. In short, it's an idyllic day which seems absolutely perfect to the five year old child as she carefully colours a cat in black.

"What are you drawing, Gabi?" Fleur asks, entering the kitchen and depositing a stray plate into the sink before looking over Gabrielle's shoulder. "Oh, what a beautiful cat!"

Gabrielle smiles up at her sister, dropping her pen and holding her arms up so Fleur will pick her up. Fleur obliges and carries Gabrielle to the work surface where the finished cake it sitting. It looks perfect with rich chocolate mousse on top of the cake and Gabrielle immediately stretches a finger out to touch it.

"Careful," their mother says from where she's wiping down the work surface with a fond smile at her daughter's.

"It's still hot and sticky, Gabi," Fleur warns, catching her sister's hand and holding her back. "But I will cut you a slice when it is cool, I promise."

Fleur fulfils her promise by appearing at Gabrielle's side later in the afternoon when Gabrielle has abandoned her colouring and is sat next to the garden pond, watching the frogs hop around.

"Gabi?" Fleur calls, settling herself gracefully down on the grace and handing her sister a plate with a slice of cake on it. "For you, my little sister."

Gabrielle ignores the cake fork that sits on the plate and lifts the slice of cake in her hands, cramming it into her mouth. Fleur laughs, eating her own slice with a fork in a far more dignified manner than Gabrielle.

"Mm," Gabrielle licks her lips and waggles her fingers in Fleur's face. "It's delicious!"

Fleur takes Gabrielle inside and absently helps her wash her hands in the big sink, wondering when their parents will return home from their outing.

"Fleur?" Gabrielle asks suddenly, her crystal blue eyes shining. "Will you stay here with me and not go back to Beauxbatons?"

"Gabi, I have to go back," Fleur tells her sister gently, crouching down so she's on Gabrielle's level. "I have to finish school but I'll come back, I promise."

"And live with me again?" Gabrielle asks, her small hands clutching at Fleur's flower dress.

"I promise," Fleur agrees as she presses a kiss to Gabrielle's head. "And I don't break my promises, do I?"

Gabrielle shakes her head and drags Fleur off to play dolls with her in her bedroom.

'-,

Gabrielle lives for the holidays when Fleur comes home and they all eat chocolate mousse cake. Gabrielle's mother doesn't make it any other time, claiming that chocolate is fattening, so they only eat it when Fleur is home as it's a treat, according to their mother.

Fleur and Gabrielle learn how to make the cake when Gabrielle is nine and Fleur is nineteen. As Gabrielle melts the chocolate and butter, they talk.

"And Bill is very handsome, Gabi, you will adore him!" Fleur says, supervising Gabrielle carefully. "I cannot wait to spend more time with his family because he speaks so highly of them."

"I don't like boys," Gabrielle says firmly, mixing the butter and chocolate.

This comment causes Fleur to start laughing as Gabrielle looks up at her, wondering why Fleur started to giggle.

"One day, Gabi, you will," Fleur assures her as Gabrielle shakes her head firmly and swipes a finger through the chocolate mess in the bowl.

'-,

Gabrielle does like boys as she grows up and the first is the great Harry Potter. He's seventeen and she's eleven, which seems like a life time between them but it doesn't stop Gabrielle from batting her eyelashes at him - a technique learnt from Fleur.

He's a hero and he saved her life in the Triwizard Tournament, which isn't something Gabrielle can forget.

She bakes a chocolate mousse cake by herself in Burrow kitchen, talking to Mrs Weasley in English, as she daydreams about sharing the cake with Harry at her sister's wedding reception. Obviously, Harry will fall in love with her and they'll get married one day and be as happy as Bill and Fleur.

Harry barely notices Gabrielle in her glimmering golden dress and the wedding reception is interrupted by Death Eaters and Gabrielle finds herself crushed between Bill and Fleur as Fleur clutches her close to protect her and Gabrielle's cake is thrown on the floor by a hooded Death Eater.

'-,

Gabrielle spends the next year on a diet of her mother's suggestion. It means she doesn't eat any chocolate mousse cake whether she or Fleur or their mother makes it. Even if she wasn't on this diet, Gabrielle wouldn't have eaten it anyway; she's too worried about her family and her appearance and what's going to happen in general.

It's May when Fleur Floos in to tell them that they are all going to Hogwarts to fight Lord Voldemort. Gabrielle, who is back at home due to an early summer release, cries and clings to her sister, terrified she'll never see Fleur again.

This fear eats at Gabrielle from the inside and she cannot rest until she slips into the kitchen and Floos to Shell Cottage, finding it completely empty.

Gabrielle roams around her sister's home, feeling sick with fear as she hunts for any sign of her sister that may hold some solace.

In the kitchen, Gabrielle finds a chocolate mousse cake on a crystal cake stand. Slowly, Gabrielle walks towards it before she helps herself. She eats the entire cake, cramming spoonful after spoonful into her mouth until the cake is all gone and she's leaning against the cupboards, completely defeated. The cake didn't taste of anything but fear, nothing at all like the cakes that Gabrielle is used to.

Gabrielle then bolts to the bathroom and throws up, her small body convulsing, until she crumples and curls into a ball next to the toilet, sobbing weakly.

She's scared out of her mind and she feels so ill that it's unbelievable.

Fleur finds her there several hours later and gathers her into her arms, assuring her that everything is over and she is safe.

'-,

From then on, things look up.

Gabrielle makes chocolate mousse cakes on special occasions, such as the day her nieces and nephew, Victoire, Dominique and Louis, are born and on their birthdays.

It's no secret that Gabrielle adores her sister's children. As soon as she leaves school, Gabrielle moves to England to be near them and spends hours on the floor of Shell Cottage or at the beach with one or more of the small children.

"Auntie Gabi," Victoire pipes up one day, fixing her gaze on her Aunt.

Eighteen year old Gabrielle is stood in front of her mirror, dressing for a party, and trying to decide if she should wear her green and gold dress or not.

At the question from her niece, Gabrielle turns and smiles at Victoire, gathering a section of blonde hair in her hand to clip it back from her face.

"Yes, Vicka?" Gabrielle asks, sitting down next to Victoire and stretching her long legs out.

"Why don't you have a job like Mummy and Daddy?" Victoire asks, scrambling to climb onto Gabrielle's lap and sticking her thumb in her mouth. Gabrielle's arms close around the small child and she lets out a light laugh, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

"I don't know what I want to do with my life yet, darling," Gabrielle tells Victoire softly.

"Well, _duh_!" Victoire rolls her eyes in a way that only children can. "You can open a cake shop!"

'-,

Gabrielle opens her cake shop six months later with the extended Weasley family all around her. She's honestly bewildered that she didn't think of it before her niece came up with the idea – it seems like such an obvious answer, really, since Gabrielle makes a wide selection of cakes, biscuits and other French desserts.

Obviously, her nieces and nephews get free cakes whenever they come by to visit her. Victoire likes to help in the kitchen and there's even a white apron hanging on the door with her name embroidered on it for when she comes to see her aunt.

When Victoire turns six, Gabrielle makes her a special chocolate mousse cake with six sparkly candles and a hazelnut cake covered in rich, chocolate mousse.

Gabrielle is putting the finishing touches on the cake on the shop counter before she leaves to the party when a man enters.

"That looks like a special cake," he says and Gabrielle glances over her shoulder and smiles warmly at him,

"A special cake for a special girl," she says as she straightens up and shakes her silk skirts out. "It's my niece's birthday party."

"Oh," the man says. "I'm attending a party as well... I felt that I needed to contribute some food so I stopped in here. It's highly recommended."

This comment makes Gabrielle beam and she wipes her hands on a cloth so she can shake the man's hand. The man smiles back, Gabrielle's genuine grin making it impossible for him not to return it.

She helps him choose a raspberry tart to take to the party and he leaves with another smile. Gabrielle boxes the cake up so she can head over, feeling regretful that she didn't get his name.

'-,

Gabrielle finds her oldest niece to be over-excited and delighted as she spins around the garden with her skirts swirling and ribbons in her hair. Victoire sees Gabrielle arrive and drags Teddy Lupin over to greet her aunt.

"Auntie Gabi!" Victoire cries in delight as Gabrielle drops to her knees so that she can gather Victoire into a tight, one-armed hug.

"Happy Birthday, darling," Gabrielle whispers in her ear as Victoire clamours to look at the cake.

As soon as she sees the chocolate mousse cake, Victoire's eyes go wide and she grasps Teddy's hand as they both stare at the cake. Seeing her daughter's desperation for the cake, Fleur ushers people over to the table of food and Gabrielle finds herself serving the dessert to people.

"I'll have a slice of – it's you!" A man says and Gabrielle lifts her head, recognizing the handsome man who had been in her shop an hour earlier.

"It's you!" she responds with a silvery laugh. "So _this_ is the party you were coming to!"

"Obviously," the man tells her as she cuts him a slice of chocolate mousse cake. "I didn't get your name before."

"Gabrielle," Gabrielle tells him as Victoire returns to the table, chocolate smeared around her mouth and holds her plate out to her aunt.

"More please, Auntie Gabi," Victoire asks and the man smiles down at the child who looks scarily similar to her aunt.

"So, Gabi," he says as Victoire skips away, easily adopting the nickname reserved for Gabrielle's family. "My name's Dennis, Dennis Creevey."

'-,

They fall into a pattern of friendship which comes to them as easily as breathing. They spend hours discussing everything from cakes to colours and colours to spells. Dennis tells her about Colin and Gabrielle tells him about learning to bake. They get on like a house on fire so it's only natural that their friendship progresses to something more.

Dennis kisses her in the shop one day, when Gabrielle is making one of her famous chocolate mousse cakes. He swoops in and gathers her in his arms before cupping her face in his hands to kiss her, running his fingers through her blonde hair.

Immediately Gabrielle's arms wrap around him, clinging to Dennis' strong form and getting chocolate smears all over his clean white shirt but he doesn't mind.

It's actually just what he's always wanted, really.

Dennis moves into the flat above the shop and they adapt to each other – Gabrielle learns not to complain about Dennis' obsession with photographs that he's seemed to inherit of his deceased brother and Dennis learns not to aggravate Gabrielle because she flies into a temper surprising fast for someone so serene.

Everything is going perfectly, like something out of a fairytale, until they've been together for a year.

It starts when Gabrielle is preparing another chocolate mousse cake, this one in honour of Dominique's birthday, when a wave of nausea hits her and she finds herself unable to cope with the smell of the cakes.

Gabrielle lurches out of the kitchen and out of the door, breathing in deeply until she stops feeling sick and only feels washed out. Her legs fold beneath her and she crumples to the floor with her head pressed against her knees.

Dennis finds her like this when he returns from work and he has to carry her inside. Gabrielle just tells him that she's ill and promptly goes to bed, crawling beneath the covers and listening to him clatter around the flat.

'-,

She finds out that she's pregnant a week later and realises that this is the reason that she's been unable to make her chocolate mousse cake, with the smell of the chocolate turning her stomach.

Gabrielle doesn't tell Dennis, however. She comes close but she's twenty, young and unmarried, not to mention the fact the Mr and Mrs Creevey don't approve of her because she's French.

Instead, she spends her time pacing the flat and trying to decide what to do. She lists the problems: can only bake things without chocolate; there's no room for a baby in the tiny flat and Gabrielle isn't ready for motherhood. She isn't ready to give up her shop and she knows, deep down, that she'll never be a mother like Fleur.

Dennis knows that something isn't right with her – this isn't the woman he's used to and she doesn't bake her chocolate mousse cakes anymore, a sure sign that something is wrong – so he confronts her one night.

"Gabi," Dennis says lightly as he enters the living room, a glass of red wine in one hand. Gabrielle is curled in an armchair with a French book open in her hands. She looks up at him and Dennis notices the dark marks under her blue eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," Gabrielle says sharply, closing her book with a resounding snap. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"You just haven't been yourself," Dennis tells her, crouching down in front of the chair. "I've been worried."

Gabrielle shrugs his concerns off and heads into the kitchen, making herself a slice of toast despite the fact they had eaten their dinner half an hour earlier.

"Dennis," Gabrielle calls suddenly as she reappears in the doorway, holding a chocolate mousse cake in a tin. "What the hell is this?"

Dennis looks up from his newspaper and sees Gabrielle holding the shiny red tin with a scowl on her face.

"I bumped into Fleur today," Dennis says. "I forgot to tell you – Victoire helped her make it and wanted to send it to you. You're the cake woman after all." He smiles at her but Gabrielle looks like she's about to burst into tears as she slams the tin on the table and storms into their bedroom.

Dennis stares after her, completely bewildered, before he follows her and sees her standing in front of her dressing table with her hands clenched into fists.

"Gabi, what is it?" Dennis asks, slightly desperately as Gabrielle turns to face him with a fearful expression.

"Oh, Merlin, Dennis," Gabrielle says softly. "I'm... I'm pregnant."

Dennis seems unable to talk as he sinks onto their bed and stares at her, half delighted and half horrified.

"What are we going to do?" Dennis asks her, raking a hand through his hair as he gapes at her. "We're not married, there's no room and being a father's never even crossed my _mind_ before now!"

Gabrielle simply shakes her head and goes to bed, not speaking again for the rest of the night as they lie on opposite sides of the bed to each other. It's never been like this before – Gabrielle has never cried herself to sleep over Dennis and Dennis has never left for work in the morning without saying goodbye until now.

'-,

It's Victoire who asks Gabrielle what's wrong because Victoire's the only one who dares to risk the wrath of Gabrielle Delacour.

Gabrielle is looking after Victoire one day, sitting on the floor and trying to ignore the fact that she's putting on weight, when Victoire drops the string of beads she had been threading and turns to face her aunt.

"Auntie Gabi, why aren't you happy anymore?" Victoire asks Gabrielle, crossing her legs and tipping her head to the side.

"I am," Gabrielle protests but then Victoire raises an eyebrow, a gesture that she must have picked up from Fleur, and Gabrielle sighs. "I'm going to have a baby, Vicka," Gabrielle tells her niece softly, wondering why she's confessing this to a seven year old.

"Really?" Victoire claps her hands and her face lights up as she throws her arms around her aunt and hugs her tightly. "That's so _cool_, auntie Gabi! Can I bring Teddy to see her?"

"It might not be a girl," Gabrielle points out as she hugs her niece tightly and wonders why she can't be as excited as Victoire.

Victoire discards this comment as an idiotic idea, obviously convinced she's getting a female cousin and begins to talk about baby names and baby clothes. She even goes to fetch her drawing pad to design clothes herself and Fleur walks in to find Victoire holding a picture of a black and yellow dress up and explaining bits of it to Gabrielle.

"See, this bit _here_ would be lacy and the baby would look really pretty," Victoire is saying and Fleur frowns slightly, wondering why Victoire is going on about babies.

"Victoire, darling, why don't you go and see Daddy?" Fleur suggests lightly. "He's just bringing Dommie and Louis in."

Victoire presses a sticky kiss to Gabrielle's cheek and drops the pad as she rushes out of the door, calling over her shoulder to her aunt.

"Can you make me a chocolate mousse cake, Auntie Gabi?"

Gabrielle shudders at the thought of this as Fleur closes the door and turns to face her sister.

"What's going on, Gabi?" Fleur asks, crossing to sit down next to her sister. "Why is Victoire on about babies?"

Gabrielle meets her sister's gaze and looks down instantly, her hair shielding her from Fleur's inquisitive eyes.

"Gabrielle, are you going to have a baby?" Fleur presses her sister, knowing Gabrielle is unable to lie to her. She's never been able to, not even when she was little.

"Yes," Gabrielle whispers and bursts into tears, crumpling into Fleur's arms. "And I don't know what to do!"

Fleur strokes Gabrielle's hair as Gabrielle tells her about not being able to stomach the smell of chocolate and how Dennis doesn't seem to want the baby and there's no room in the flat. When Gabrielle has finished, Fleur is white with rage and she looks terrifying but she smiles at Gabrielle.

"Gabi, the repulsion to chocolate may pass soon," Fleur tells her. "And even if it doesn't, it's only a few months. I know it doesn't seem like ideal timing but you're going to be a mother – it's wonderful, Gabi, I promise."

"But I'll never be a good mother like you," Gabrielle whispers and Fleur shakes her head firmly.

"Nonsense – you are wonderful with the girls and Louis!" Fleur dismisses this notion and rises gracefully. "I must go and see Dennis. Go and play with the children and Bill and I will be back soon."

Gabrielle never finds out what Fleur says to Dennis but she's playing snap with Louis in the garden when Dennis arrives. He looks shaken as he leads Gabrielle to a corner of the garden to talk to her privately.

"I know I didn't take it the best way," he says awkwardly as Gabrielle folds her arms across her chest. "But I love you and I love this baby, okay, Gabi? I'm excited about having a baby with you, I swear! I was an idiot and I'm so sorry but I'm begging of you to forgive me. Please?"

It's not the most romantic apology Gabrielle has ever heard but she accepts it and kisses Dennis whilst Victoire and Fleur beam and Dominique, Louis and Bill make gagging noises.

'-,

Gabrielle gives birth to a little boy seven months later and they name him Colin Dennis, in honour of Dennis' brother.

Victoire immediately steps into a sister-type role to the baby and takes to frequently visiting Gabrielle to play with her cousin. Dennis likes to sit and watch the baby, marvelling over the sheer perfection of his son whilst Gabrielle jumps back into the business of baking whilst singing French lullabies to Colin.

Two years later, Colin gets a little sister, whom Gabrielle and Dennis name Anna Fleur.

Both children grow up with chocolate mousse cakes to celebrate anything from birthdays to anniversaries and they have to frequently listen to their father recount the fact that Victoire's sixth birthday cake was the best cake he'd ever eaten.

Now, when Gabrielle eats chocolate mousse cake, she's reminded of the first time she ate it because there's no danger any more. She constantly informs people that she's the luckiest person in the world because she's happy and she's got her children and her Dennis.

Whilst Gabrielle and Dennis never make it down the aisle to be married, despite Gabrielle's childhood dreams of weddings, when Teddy and Victoire tie the knot, their wedding cake is a chocolate mousse cake, made by Gabrielle for her very special niece.

'-,


End file.
